Mockingbird District Qualifier

for the 2019 National Tournament

The Deep South District

of the

National Speech & Debate Association

    This is your official invitation to have your school and yourself as the coach to participate in the District Tournament for the Deep South District of the National Speech & Debate Association which will be held February 3rd, which is the date of the Congress tournament, and March 1st - 2nd for debate and IEs, on the campus of Mountain Brook High School in Mountain Brook. The District Tournament serves as the qualifying tournament for the NSDA National Tournament, which this year will be held in Dallas, Texas June 16 - 22.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE - This is the MOST important tournament of the year - the number of students at districts determines how many students move on to nationals - PLEASE ENTER THIS TOURNAMENT AND FILL YOUR SLOTS!!!!!!!

The rules for this tournament are outlined on the NSDA website. They are lengthy and involved and I will highlight a few of them below, but if you want every detail you can go to speechanddebate.org - then go to "Quick Links" at the bottom and click on  “Forms and Manuals” and you can print out the entire manual.

Here are a few highlights that you need to know:

1) The school must be an affiliate or chapter school within the National Speech & Debate Association  - meaning your school must be a member in good standing and have paid your membership dues. For each student to qualify to participate in the District tournament, he or she must have a minimum of 25 points in the NSDA.

2) Any student entered must be a member of the National Speech & Debate Association - if you go to the NSDA website and go to membership reports and district, you can click on your school to find this out - if the student is not listed OR IF THERE IS NO YELLOW/GOLD STAR BY THEIR NAME, they can’t participate unless they are a member on record at least (7) days prior to the tournament.

3) A student must attend the high school they attend. No club teams are allowed to enter.

4) Prep time for Policy is 5 minutes; Lincoln Douglas is 4 minutes; Public Forum is 2 minutes.

5) Topics -  Policy and Big Questions debaters will use the 2018 - 2019 school year topic; Lincoln Douglas and Public Forum debaters will use the March/April topics, which will be released on February 1st. We will also be using the NEW Evidence Rules as outlined in the Tournament Manual for all debate events.

6) Any student competing in Original Oratory & Informative must submit a copy of the speech signed by the coach and student at registration the day of the tournament. You must also enter the title of the speech on the tabroom website when you register for the tournament on the website.

7) For the Interpretation Events - title, author, and publishing information must accompany the entry sheets and be entered on the tabroom website at the time of registration. There is an obscure rule that prevents students with the same interp piece from hitting in prelim rounds - we must know the titles in order to prevent this from happening.

8) Any student that double-enters, must pre-declare which event they will do if they double-qualify to Nationals. This form can be found at the same "Forms and Manuals" link. That sheet must be turned in when you come for registration the day of the start of the tournament.

9) Students may double-enter except with the following combinations:

A) No double-entering in debate events OR team events - Policy, Duo, Public Forum - example, a student may not enter duo and public forum, but they may enter one two-person team event and single competitor speech events.

B) A student may not do both US and International Extemp

10) The number of entries a school has is based on the number of members and degrees on record with the NSDA. There is a chart in the manual that shows you how many entries your school may have AND this information is on the Membership District List that I referenced earlier.

11) ALL HEAD COACHES ARE REQUIRED TO JUDGE AND TO STAY UNTIL THE CONCLUSION OF THE ENTIRE DISTRICT TOURNAMENT - WE NEED TO HAVE AT LEAST 1 HEAD COACH ON EVERY Elimination ROUND PANEL.

12) Entry fees - $15.00 for IE entries and $25.00 for Debate entries.  School fee - $20.00 Team events are 1 entry so Duo is $15, Policy is $25.

13) The use of electronic devices has been approved for ALL EVENTS, and the district is piloting internet rules in debate- NOT IN EXTEMP. See page 26 of the Unified HS Manuel for detailed rules on the new internet guidelines.

14) Deadline for Entry in the Deep South District Tournament is February 25.

15.) ALL SCHOOLS PARTICIPATING IN CONGRESS MUST PROVIDE AT LEAST ONE UNAFFLIATED JUDGE PER NSDA DEFINITION OF AN UNAFFILIATED JUDGE. IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THIS, PLEASE ASK.